David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was wondering if the Minister has a breakdown of the 20 individuals that have just gone through the training program for careers in corrections. There are 20 individuals. What is the breakdown on that by priority status and aboriginal persons?

Is the Minister aware of direct appointments of non-aboriginal, non-priority persons into positions at North Slave Correctional Centre? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week the Minister of Justice made a statement on the success of a new approach to corrections training and recruitment and I wanted to say I was listening quite closely to that statement. The department has to be applauded for getting the Recruitment Program initiated. Sadly, the reality for aboriginal employees in corrections today is that some are still having a very difficult time at advancing their careers.

I have a constituent who is aboriginal, born and raised in the Northwest Territories. He’s worked in corrections for over 17 years. He has solid performance...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some questions today and I guess I’ll give the Minister of Finance, who happens to be the Minister of ENR, a bit of a break and ask my questions to the Premier. It goes back to my Member’s statement from earlier today when I talked about government contracting and the fact that in 2008-2009 the Government of the Northwest Territories sole sourced a total of over $53 million in contracts. In the Department of Executive, for example, out of 39 contracts, 26 of them were sole sourced and some of these to former bureaucrats. I’d like to ask the Premier what...

Can we not come up with a goal of reducing our bad habit of sole-sourcing and our reliance on expensive consultants?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address the issue of government contracting today. In 2008-2009 we spent upwards of $515 million in contracts. The government’s stated objectives for contracting is to acquire goods and services in a way that enhances suppliers’ access to contracts, encourages competition, reflects fairness, transparency and accountability in the spending of public funds.

Mr. Speaker, over 10 percent of our total procurement, roughly $53 million, was acquired through sole-sourced means. There is little doubt that as a government we need to contract, but from what I have seen...

I do look forward to that. It seems every year that the Minister, or whoever happens to be the Minister of Health at the time, says exactly the same thing. That you’re looking at Stanton; they’re going to look at the programs that are delivered there; they’re going to look at the space utilization. They’re going to do all that work, and here we are in 2010 and the Minister is saying the exact same thing I’ve heard for the past six years. You know, the Master Development Plan fell off the rails. I know they’ve got the Foundation for Change. I guess I have to remain somewhat optimistic that at...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There was some talk, I guess, about moving some of the administrative staff out of Stanton and into other office space. I think some of that has started, whether they go over to that new, used to be the old Extra Foods building on the corner of Range Lake Road and Old Airport Road. That was one area.

I’ve also raised in the past the issue that the medical clinic is woefully inadequate for the programs that it’s delivering. The one I’m talking about is Stanton Medical Clinic next to McDonald’s. I believe the Minister said last year during budget deliberations that the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a question for the Minister. Some of the numbers on the people we have in care in southern placements and some of the numbers that I have seen are quite alarming. They have gone from 27 in 2004-2005 to 56 now. I think some of them have been repatriated back to the Northwest Territories at the Hay River facility, but I was just wondering if the Minister can comment on what efforts the department is making to try to get those individuals that are in southern care back into the Northwest Territories so they can be closer to their families. So if we are spending in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, going through the contract book, I’d just like to ask the Premier: do former bureaucrats, deputy ministers, have any preferential treatment when it comes to being given sole-source contracts by this government? Thank you.